


Obeisance

by blacktail_chorus



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: A goat gets eaten but it's not graphic, Dragons, Fluff, Gen, Magic Revealed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 09:52:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13702041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacktail_chorus/pseuds/blacktail_chorus
Summary: Merlin was a very irregular person. Dealing with him required a special touch. If Merlin had gotten himself in some kind of trouble, Arthur doubted an ordinary guard would be able to sort it out. No--he'd have to go see for himself.





	Obeisance

Arthur stretched, pushing his fists up over his head and letting them arc down to his sides. He rocked back in his seat and pinched his shoulder blades together, tilted his neck from side to side, and rubbed one hand over his eyes. Finally, he was done. His bed beckoned--a soft, inviting wonderland he looked to with gleeful anticipation.

As he stood, however, he noticed a lonely pair of boots leaning by the banked fire. Merlin. He'd been in earlier today, polishing and tidying, and this pair had apparently escaped him. Arthur sighed, and certainly did not smile, before walking to the fire and stooping to grab the boots. They were more than passably clean, he noted approvingly.

Just this once, he'd do Merlin a little favor. Really, the man had no idea how generous Arthur was. Arthur walked the boots over to the wardrobe and popped them inside, shutting the door with a satisfying snick.

He turned and drifted towards the window, letting his gaze travel down to the courtyard. Torches cast a faint light over the empty flagstones as they waited for dawn and the bustle of a new day. Now Arthur did smile. Reviewing reports late into the evening was never his idea of fun, but it's what gave him this--his kingdom, sleeping. At peace.

Just then, however, a shadow flicked through the torchlight. Arthur moved closer to the window. There--again. A figure, moving in bursts. Dressed in a cloak and carrying a large sack. Arthur did not like this. Citizens were free to move about after dark, of course, but this had the distinct flavor of sneaking around. He frowned, and then frowned even more when the figure stumbled a bit on the stone in the next patch of light.

Merlin. Gods. He'd know that wobble anywhere. What on Earth was he doing carrying a sack through the yard like a fugitive?

He turned, thinking fleetingly of calling a guard to get to the bottom of this, but rejected the idea immediately. Merlin was a very irregular person. Dealing with him required a special touch. If Merlin had gotten himself in some kind of trouble, Arthur doubted an ordinary guard would be able to sort it out. No--he'd have to go see for himself.

He opened the cupboard swiftly and retrieved the boots he'd stowed moments before, along with the blue cloak he'd balled up into a hiding place. This time, he most certainly did not grin. He was not at all excited by the prospect of sneaking around. Not a bit! Or of catching Merlin out and watching him gape like a fish when Arthur emerged from the shadows. No, Arthur thought, slipping each boot on in turn, this wasn't going to be any fun, not at all.

\---

Merlin crashed through the last of the underbrush and heaved a sigh as he entered the clearing. His hands were slipping and the sack pressed uncomfortably against his neck-- _why_ did baby dragons have to eat so much? He swung the sack awkwardly from his shoulder. It fell to the ground with a wet thud and almost took him with it.

He exhaled as he shook out his hands and stood up straight. Narrowing his eyes, he peered around the clearing under the light of a waning half moon. "Aithusa?" he called softly. No response. "Aithusa?" He tried again with a trace of Dragonlord rumble.

On the far side, a bush shook as a gleaming white dragon's head rose into view. Latching on to Merlin's location, Aithusa leapt from her hiding spot and bounded towards him, her tail flicking this way and that behind her. She'd grown so much in such a short time; already she was as big as a horse.

Merlin broke into a broad grin as she let out a happy squeal. He didn't flinch as she barreled on, skidding to a stop in the perfect place to nudge her nose into his outstretched hand.

"Hello, you," Merlin chuckled. He gave her a pat. "I'm sorry I couldn't come yesterday, Gaius had a patient who needed watching all night. I hope you weren't lonely," he said apologetically.

Aithusa stretched forward and bumped his shoulder, hard, but seemed eager to forgive as she turned her attentions to the sack at Merlin's side.

"Ah, ah!" Merlin said, keeping the sack tightly closed. "Is that how a lady receives her food?"

She snorted but obligingly backed away to wait.

"At a banquet, you would bow to your king..." Merlin prompted encouragingly.

Aithusa dropped her head gracefully and positioned one foreleg in front of the other. But she unfurled her wings only most of the way and the lashing of her tail revealed her impatience. Merlin rolled his eyes--good enough. He bowed deeply in return, which was her signal to dig in to Merlin's bag of treats.

"You'd think Kilgharrah didn't feed you," Merlin said fondly as she tore at a chunk of meat. "Lucky the baker was willing to trade for one of her goats. And I _should_ have time to replenish Gaius's stores tomorrow..." Aithusa cracked happily through bone. She gobbled the goat down in no time and stuck her head deep into the bag to make sure Merlin wasn't holding out on her.

He laughed, drawing the bag away and watching her blink innocently up at him. "Alright, my lady," he teased. "Another bow for the banquet's end?"

AIthusa gave a brief bob before reclining into a stretch. She clacked her jaw contentedly and flexed her talons.

"You know I only want you to be safe," Merlin chided. "We can't have Arthur thinking you're a wild animal, can we?"

A yawn was her only response. Aithusa's belly had gained a little bulge and it wobbled a bit as she lay down to rest. Eating was serious work, after all.

Merlin folded himself down and scooted around so he could recline against her. She grumbled a bit but curled round him slightly, and his torso was rocked by the rise and fall of her breath.

"Talons?" he asked. She moved her forelimb towards him obligingly. Merlin took it in both hands and turned it this way and that, looking for injuries. Kilgharrah had explained that young dragons' feet were soft and vulnerable to nicks and punctures that could become irritated over time, so Merlin checked Aithusa's diligently. Her feet were weighty and smooth and she relaxed her digits as Merlin stroked them. He grinned, resisting the urge to tickle. He loved when she went pliant like this and took the opportunity to run his hands along her sides and up her neck to the delicate place just below her jaw. She rumbled, pleased, and leaned into his touch.

Soon, though, her alertness returned, and her preening morphed into playing as she bumped Merlin with her snout. He shoved her and she shoved back, tipping Merlin over in her eagerness. He laughed.

" _Leoht!_ " He lobbed a mage light towards her head and she snapped it right up, causing sparks to fly from between her teeth.

Merlin grinned. "Too easy," he proclaimed, and tossed another a bit off to the side.

She swiveled like a serpent and grabbed it out of the air. _Is that all?_ her look back to him said plainly.

So Merlin threw another, harder, and the game was on. She tumbled after every orb, lunging and pouncing and chasing after the ones that rolled past her in the grass. Merlin started to throw them higher, until her leaps turned into wingbeats that carried her up to the tops of the trees. The clear moonlight made her lithe body luminous. Merlin's heart bounded every time she left the ground--how he ached to see her take true flight.

He threw another light, but this one went long and disappeared into the opposite underbrush. Aithusa ran gamely after it but stopped short just as her snout broke through the bushes. She went oddly still and loosed a little growl that curled into a question as she took her head back out.

A figure followed. A man, coming out of the shadows. After a moment the moonlight illuminated him, too, revealing broad shoulders beneath a tattered blue cloak--

Merlin's chest seized with ice. He pressed one fist to his stomach and tried to gulp some air. Aithusa watched him, confused, looking for guidance and twitching first towards the figure, then away.

"Merlin," the man called. His voice was carefully measured.

"Arthur--"

But Aithusa whirled, snorting and drawing attention until she faced Arthur again from some yards away. As Merlin watched, speechless, she dropped her head low and raised her wings in a graceful curve across her back. The point of her tail fell just so. She picked up her right foreleg and closed her eyes, settling into the pose. She glowed like a lantern in the dark.

And there stood Arthur, inscrutable and distant. He turned his face to Merlin, then back again to the dragon.

And then he returned her bow.


End file.
